There are two major printer user segments that dominate the market - the Office and the Home. There are of course small branches from there like the Home Office users or the DTP users, but they're all just about different shades of a larger spectrum.
Most printer manufacturers keep all the users of a particular category in mind when they design a printer for that category, like home users would need a printer to print family pictures, small project work for school or office, or something in those lines. Professionals may generally require a faster and a more robust printer that they can depend on for printing large volumes of office documents and presentations. Rarely do you get to see a printer, that's specialized for just a small section of the user segment. Epson Stylus Photo 915 is one such printer.
The Epson Stylus Photo 915 is a 5760 x 720 dpi printer aimed at photographers of all demographics, be it professionals, amateurs or even hobbyists. What makes it different from most other printers is that it doesn't need a computer to print photos taken by your digital camera. That's right, it's got all the controls you need right on the printer itself, like paper size, quality and all the standard options. If that's not good enough, it also has an optional colour LCD screen (sold separately) to preview your output.
Face Value Out of the box, the printer seems to have pretty much the standard Epson design, except for the bulkier build, the Interface on the top right corner and the PCMCIA card slot. The card slot accepts just about all photo cards including Compact Flash, Smart Media, Memory stick, MMC card and SD cards, all with their respective adapters. The printer connects to a PC or Macintosh via a USB 1.1 cable (also compatible with USB 2.0).
Fire it Up I tested the printer with our standard fare of printer tests. In the text resolution test we have fonts printed all the way up to size 1, which is a tough challenge for most printers to print. The Stylus 915, however, performed quite well here, by using the just right amount of ink, which made even the size 1 font visible (through a magnifying lens of course).
We printed a complex 500 dpi photo file, and as the printer boasts, it got all the colours reproduced to near perfection. In fact the colours on the paper were a little livelier, which made the depth and light refraction more visible. Great results here! The only problem though was when it came to printing complex hair particles; it couldn't get the lines done right. It produced minor black ink graininess at those parts.
Now that could be a problem with just the model we received for testing but for now, I'll take it as a problem for the whole range as I don't have any other piece of the same model to compare with. Other than that, this printer with its edge-to-edge printing capabilities, pretty much impressed me with the overall quality and features.
Picture Perfect With a street price of Rs. 12,500, the Epson Stylus Photo 915 may not be the best option for regular home users who don't have any fascination with photography. There are many other printers available for them that will suite their purpose. But for a pro/amateur photographer or a photography hobbyist, this printer may be a great addition to your digital photography equipment. At a price like that, I'm sure people of that category wouldn't mind.
ive had this printer since 2002 and its still working well after 4 years of constant use. The photo quality is good but starting to look dated compared to the new photo printers and b&w text on plain papers is not as good as my ?50 hp 1250.
by shahib
from london
on 12/09/06 04:20 AM
ive had this printer since 2002 and its still working well after 4 years of constant use. The photo quality is good but starting to look dated compared to the new photo printers and b&w text on plain papers is not as good as my ?50 hp 1250.
The ink tank is big and so runnin costs are very low, especially if you refil using place like cartidgeworld (?10 refil for colour and b&w).
The printer has been used constantly for 4 years and is very robust. Im just worried that it might breakdown soon!
by shahib
from london
on 12/09/06 04:18 AM
WHO EVER SAYS EPSON PRINTERS AINT PERFECT NEED TO GET THEIR EYES CHECKED, WE HAVE BEEN USING EPSON PRINTERS SINCE 9 YEARS AND HAVE USED FROM STYLUS 800,810,1270,915,210 TO 310 ALL OF THEM AND OVER THE YEARS WE HAVE WITNESSED THEIR QUALITY JUST GET BETTER. THE KINDA QUALITY WE HAVE GOT FROM 915 IS AMAZING IT COULD BEAT ANY PRINTER HOLLOW , OFFCOURSE QUALITY HAS JUST GOT BETTER WITH 210,310,230,250,350 ALL IN ALL THEY GIVE AMAZING QUALITY AND THATS JUST THE REASON WE ARE ALSO SELLING GRT NUMBERS OF EPSON PRINTERS TODAY
by colorps
from mumbai
on 01/07/06 10:29 AM
Would have been good to see some sample printouts. Also results with different types of paper could have been mentioned. But it does seem like a good printer to have for a pro/am photographer like me.
by Venky
from Mumbai
on 15/11/03 03:20 AM
I'm looking to sell my Epson Stylus Photo Printer Model 830 which I bought about 11 months ago & have used it very sparingly. I am soon immigrating hence the sale. If anyone is interested - you can email me on : datarsng@hotmail.com
Dear Sir ,
As a referance of your advertisement in magazine(Dizitech and many more) I
am really happy to inform you that I have to need your help for a vast bussiness
computers in my state .Here some are also coming with it very firstly .Already I have a bussiness shope with a suitable site.
And if I get a chance from you ,than I could give you for more successive bussiness
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So please ,send me immediatly what would be the my next steps and
also aware me of your rules regulations.
by Sumit Bhattacha
from Agartala Tripura(West)
on 22/11/03 11:08 PM
What is the HP model equivalent/competing with this Epson? Would it be possible to give a comparison of the two models and then make your usual valuable RECOMMENDATION rather than a stand-alone review?
by Antonio
from Saudi Arabia
on 15/11/03 08:02 PM
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